Alabama bingo bribery retrial begins today

Birmingham News fileA retrial is scheduled to begin today in Montgomery for Victoryland owner Milton McGregor and others on corruption charges in the bingo case.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Round two of the federal government versus Victoryland owner Milton McGregor and others will get under way this morning.

Jury selection begins this morning in the retrial of the government corruption case alleging State House vote-buying. McGregor, Sen. Harri Anne Smith of Slocomb, former state Sens. Jim Preuitt and Larry Means, lobbyist Tom Coker and former Country Crossing casino spokesman Jay Walker face charges that they offered or accepted bribes in connection with a 2010 gambling bill.

The retrial originally was scheduled to begin Jan. 30, but the proceedings were delayed by the sudden death of one of the defendants, former legislative employee Ray Crosby.

Crosby, 63, was found dead in his home the day before the retrial originally was scheduled to begin.

Montgomery County Coroner David Thrasher said an autopsy by the state Department of Forensic Science showed Crosby died from hypertensive cardiovascular disease.

The case first went to trial last summer but ended in a mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision on all of the counts.

Jurors deliberated for a week without returning a single conviction in the case. They acquitted two defendants, lobbyist Bob Geddie and Sen. Quinton Ross, and returned a mixture of not-guilty verdicts and split decisions against the others.

The case centers on lobbying efforts to try to get lawmakers to approve gambling legislation in 2010. At the time, then-Gov. Bob Riley was trying to close electronic bingo casinos, arguing they were illegal under state law. The bill before lawmakers was aimed at allowing the casinos to stay open by holding a statewide referendum to legalize the slot machine look-alikes.

Prosecutors in the first trial said McGregor used promises of campaign contributions to try to buy votes for the bill.

But McGregor lawyer Joe Espy has said there is a "total failure of proof" in the case. Other defense lawyers accused prosecutors of trying to assign sinister meaning to benign conversations about vote counts and donations.

Lawyers and the defendants report to court at 8 a.m. to take up pretrial matters. Jury selection will begin later in the morning.